Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-10-10
Horticultural department.
Farming Not Fully Credited

while there Is 4OOu 4EOuHu lOI bile
complaint that our farmers sons and
daughters are much disposed to leave
the country. If we can lessen thi.
influx of people into the city we will
do we'll. | am inclined to think that
we will do no good by scolding OF
preaching. Truth to tell, our sons
and daughters are under no more OBJ
legations to follow in the industrial
footsteps of their parents than are
the children of other people; yet no
one goes to preaching about it when
the physicians son does not study
medicine, when the carpenters son
forsakes the saw and the plane for
Blackstone and Story, or when the
lawyers son becomes a carpenter.
BOYS and girls leave the country for
the city because they hope to do bet
ter by the change. and if we would
keep them where they are we must
show them fairly and dispassiOnately
that the country has the most to offer.
Farming does not get full credit.
Even the agricultural journals are
disposed to do it injustice. The
farmer Is pitied and sympathized
with. as if he worked harder and got
less pay than any other man. Nat
urallv enough the children get the
notion that in the city the pay is
much better and the work much ca
sier and nicer than in the country.
Not one farmer in a thousand gives
his farm full credit Take, for in
stance, the matter of income. Quite
frequently you will hear the farmer
say, My cousin gets a salary of fiji
teen hundred dollars a year, he keeps
the books of Pig Iron & Co.; if l
had such an income as that | would
get rich :" or, 1.-The salary Of our
county treasurer is $1,000 per year.
1t is too much. He doesn't work as
hard rs ! do. and vet he gets four
times rs much" And vet the farmer
who thinks he has an income equal to
only one-fourth the income of the
county treasurer, has really an in
come larger. He has not credited
his farm with the use of the dwelling
house with vegetables, fruits, grains
and meats produced on the farm and
consumed by the family; with the
use of horse and carriage; with
milk. butter and eggs; with a dozen
other considerable items, never for
gotten by the city man because they
always cost him money, but not cred
tied to the farm because the farm
produces them, True, the book
keeper or public official gets $1,000
per year One-fOurth of this must
be paid for q house no better than
the one YOU live in; another fourth
must 90 for the vegetables, fruits,
grains, meal, butter, eggs and milk
YOU have used but not credited to the
farm that produced them. A horse
and carriage, such as you have, will
cost the city man at least $500 more.
Other items will consume well nigh
the remaining $500. If you had his
income you would not grow rich near
as fast as you think. ! am often re
minded of the remark of the CITY
man. After he had lived in the city
a year, he said to me "A man iiv-
ING in the city can't turn round with
out paving for it. When l was on
the farm quite often / didn't pay out
n cent of money in a week; now
have to pay out money every day. |
don't live so well now as / did on the
farm, vet | am saving less money
OF every hundred farmers who 90 to
the city fully ninety-nine have sim
liar experience. 1t is safe to say that
after living in the city for two years
they would give the farm credit for
twice or thrice as much as they did
before. Like other blessings, the
farm is not fully appreciated while it
is in possession. The notion that
city work is easier and nicer is as er-
roneous as the notion that city pay is
better. No one will question that
what are termed the manual employ
ments require in the city as vigorous
use of the muscles as farming. 1t is
so apparent that no argument is re-
quired to prove it, that the man vino
works on the streets, who carries
mortar and brick, who lays stone and
brick, who stands before the forge.
etc. works as hard as the farmer :
and the farm cannot show work so
severe as that done by the mouiders
in the various fOundries. 1t is the
clerk, neatly dressed and in the
shade all day." that we envy. But we
do not reflect that the clerk thinks
it is a great hardship that he must be
neatly dressed, that he cannot lay
aside his coat, or even so much as
unbutton it and throw it back. True,
he is in the shade, but in the store
the air is very still. The store is
warmer than the harvest field. and
instead of throwing off coat and vest,
the clerk must keep both on and but
ton up closely. 1t is no advantage
10 be neatly dressed when the Their
mometer stands at 1907. Nor does
the farm laborer work more hours
than the clerk; for the store does not
close till ten at night, and the clerk
must be on hand in the morning al
most as early as the farmer goes